Here is an eblast sent from Dave Franklin. His wife is head of YSA.
From: "Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association - LEBO BASEBALL" <mtlbball2012@gmail.com>All good things come to those who wait. The very last issue discussed this evening at the reconvened Commission Discussion Session was, "Internal signs at athletic facilities." David Donnellan gave his report. I am still laughing.
Date: May 7, 2012 10:04:56 PM EDT
To:
Subject: MLBA - Field Signage Amendment Proposal
Friends:
Tomorrow night the Commissioners will vote on a proposed amendment to Mt. Lebanon’s current signage ordinance. The purpose of the amendment is to allow tasteful signs to be placed at our municipal fields, the stadium and at similar venues. This amendment will allow for the solicitation of sponsors (local businesses, larger companies, etc), who in turn will be featured on these signs. Importantly, these sponsorships will allow the municipality and/or the youth sports associations to raise much needed funds for field maintenance and improvements.
If you support this proposal, please take 3 minutes out of your day to send a short email to the Commissioners (commission@mtlebanon.org) expressing your support for an amendment to Chapter XX (Zoning) of the Mt. Lebanon Code, Part 8, Section 823.5 (Authorized Signs).
Thanks,
Dave Franklin
There was one sign sold. It was taken down because the sports people objected to the color and the placement. A little background: The Public Information Office tried to sell signage for the municipal fields. They had hired an intern who abruptly quit. So all this talk and pressure from the sports groups saying we must have signs... They will save the world... We can sell a bizillion signs. In the end, ONE stinkin' sign was sold and it wasn't sold by YSA.
I asked David Donnellan who was the advertiser. It was Covenant. They paid $500 plus $150 for the sign to be made and placed at Dixon in Center Field. The revenue went into a fund to benefit the fields. It was decided that the new Sports Advisory Board should look into this and make a recommendation which could include rewording the amendment.
Speaking of the Sports Advisory Board, Dave Franklin (Parks Advisory Board), Joy Pajak (Women's Golf) and Walt Henry (Indoor Tennis) made a brief presentation. Dave gave a list of recommendations. Number one on his list was that the municipality fund the turf and lighting for Mellon Field since we are a community. Gee, I didn't see that one coming.
58 comments:
The municipality probably spent more in employee compensation, paperwork, filing than they made from that sign.
How come anything associated with the youth sports turns into one big circle jerk?
Oh by the way the field at Mellon is looking bettter than it has in recent memory so kudos to whomever is doing the work. Still usually empty, but its looking good.
Thought transparency was the order of the day in our governing bodies?
When we left the sign ordinance it was still to be determined who was going tonnage it and where the money was going to go.
Glad to see the commissioners are as upfront as the district in keeping their constituents informed!
Did his honorables Donnellan and Franklin give the money back? Franklin was suppose to be an expert in this field, starting to look artificial, maybe he has always been, artificial that is. Wake up commissioners.
Dave insisted, when this idea came up that "this is what I do" and that he was the man for the job of setting up a sponsorship signage program to raise revenue. The idea is very sound, and works in many places. It would appear the execution could have been improved.
This just be a sign of things to come on the PK fund raising effort also.
People are fed up with the "it's all about us and our kiddie sports" cabal and the constant grab for more and more of their hard earned cash.
Which the powers to be then turn around and disburse amongst themselves. The construction merit bonus is just one example. The Twin Hills and McNeilly purchases another.
The COVENANT paid for a sign ? The Covenant folded 2 + years ago ? Replaced by Concordia. Maybe they will come forward and rent Dixon for Tai Chi classes. Better them who pay fees than the deadbeat, freeloading YSA creeps !
Yes, Concordia. It was late, after a long day with a retreat all afternoon and meetings that started at 6:15. Dave could have said Concordia and I heard Covenant. Or he could have said Concordia and meant Covenant. Anyway, last night, Dave Franklin brought up the Do Not Call list that the Sports Advisory Board came up with. The list includes Highmark, Lowes, Dick's, UPMC, and more. Eat N' Park was never mentioned. Brooks Broadhurst (Eat 'N Park) wrote a respectful comment a year ago in support of turfing Wildcat and Middle. http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/06/presenting-youth-sports-alliance_29.html
Looking at the comments made for that post, I see Mr. Lebo Fields saying:
"Our biggest problem is field space - full field space (not baseball field space). We need more space because the types of sports and the number of participants have clearly outpaced our inventory. We need space for soccer, lacrosse, football, field hockey . . . all of which are currently wrestling for time on one of our 4 full sized fields (and that # really is 3 since the HS turf is basically off limits to all but a few days for youth sport).
Turfing Middle and Wildcat, in my opinion, creates that additional space. Multiple youth football games can take place at once. Same with Rec and youth soccer games. Multiple age groups can practice lacrosse on this space and the same goes for field hockey. Soccer games for the older age groups can also be moved to this space allowing Bird and Jefferson some time off each week."
Brafferton is being repurposed to become a multi use field which includes lacrosse.The Commission has been responsive to the YSA's needs. They delivered on Twin Hills, McNeilly, creating a multi purpose field, and amending the sign ordinance.Now they want the Commission to turf a school district field. Are you Klucking kidding me?
Elaine
I'll bet the intern quitting and the failure of sign program were blamed on Lebocitizens and her (what is the count down to now) 3 or 4 anonymous wingnuts.
What Donnellan and Franklin don't understand is that businesses have to justify and see a benefit from every dollar they spend. Like- "how many pizzas, ce cream cones, or beers do I have to sell to recoup the cost of this sign?" then they have to examine if the expenditure is really reaching new prospective customers.
Be careful folkswhen Franklin and the SAB show you the huge cost savings number going to turf. You just received a warning thru the sign program how wrong they can be.
Did they talk about the abysmal numbers regarding the doggie park from the Lebomag poll?
Like how few people said they would support it, use it or volunteer to make it work. The biggest number and even that was pathetic was people saying... Build it for me at no cost to my wallet.
7:21, right on the money.
"this is what I do" is different for a living than volunteering for a government agency or nonprofit.
Both the commitment to get the job done right, and getting donors to put up the cash for signs is very different than for professional sports teams.
"This is what I do for a living" in this instance is perhaps a very poor choice of words, is it not?
I still didn't get it right in my 8:21 AM comment. Dave could have said Covenant and meant Concordia. That is what I get for not getting a good night's sleep.
Let me get this straight, 9:28 AM, Dave Franklin is off the hook because he isn't working with professional sports teams. Just to be clear, after putting in a full day with the municipality.
Elaine
Franklin jus wants a free lunch, otherwise he is a bunch of hot air. He wines just like the teachers union and the FREE LUNCH COMMISSIONERS can't wait to get the sports vote to be reelected. The term DEADBEAT ATHLETIC SUPPORTERS is more relevant today than last year.
Elaine 9:46 that is correct.
Even though the work needing done is much the same, the effort put forth is very different.
10:31 AM, Puleeze. We just HAD to have signage. The work involved to amend the ordinance was just a waste of time and money? How many sports people solicited for signage? My guess is none. Where is the effort? They come up with the ideas but it is always somebody else's fault when it doesn't work out. Just amazing.
Elaine
How much were the legal fees to write the new ordinance?
Somebody should audit the hours municipal employees put in on investigating the concept of signs, writing the proposals/ordinance, documenting the ordinance passage, etc., etc.
The whole fiasco to find money for Franklin's turf idea probably cost the taxpayers more money than it generated.
Holy Moly Rolly Polly FREEBIE FRANKLIN's back for more.
Maybe if we instituted a fee for these "falling like rainwater" hair-brained schemes the YSA and SAB people keep coming up with they'd knock it off.
They got to useless plots of land, they got a taj mahal athletic building and they got field signs that generated a whopping $500, which hopefully if they had any integrity they refunded.
But our ever diligent commissioners will keep following this Pied Piper. Seems we love our fairy tales and unicorns in Fantasyland.
I sure hope Franklin will be the first in line to pony up to PK!
What happened to the advertising sponsors that Franklin promised to help cover the costs?
What's this about a SAB Do Not Call List?
Dicks, Lowe's, Highmark, UPMC, Eat 'n Park? Have they gotten fed up with with Lebo putting the collar on them all the time?
Bad news for Mr. Oshrey, the road to $6 million seems to be cratered with potholes from all the heavy traffic.
How apropo to associate Franklin/YSA/SAB with the Pied Piper.
Merriam Webster definition of Pied Piper
- a charismatic person who attracts followers
- one that offers strong but delusive enticement
- a leader who makes irresponsible promises
His offerings on turf are certainly strong on face value but overwhelmingly delusive in practice. But oh the rats or is it children do like to follow his music don't they.
I noticed last week at Webb Park in Collier that their beautifully maintained grass baseball field has advertising signs. The amazing thing is that the entire outfield fence was covered end to end (maybe 35-40 signs) with professionally made, appropriate, uniformly sized signs. Several of the signs were for businesses not even that close to Collier, Ruby's Cleaners is the one that stands out due to its proximity to many Lebo fields.
I continue to be amazed how so many little communities can do what Lebo can't.
ps. One of Collier's little league teams was just two wins away from the LL World Series final last year.
2:03 amazing isn't it!
Scott has an amazing ballfield. Even Dormont that the hotsie-totsie Lebo gentry love to look down on can maintain a very nice ballfield just above their pool. A pool which we Lebo people incidentally seem to rely on.
Then their is the wood palace/fort/jungle gym they built in the same area.Amazing.
Oh we're so much better than everyone else aren't we!
1:15 - what do the kids in this community spend on hamburgers at Eat-n-Park? How much on athletic apparel at Dicks?
NOW- how much of the kids money from the school district goes to legal fees at Tucker-A?
What about Franklin tapping his rich employers like Reed Smith and Eckert-Seamans?
Susan Stroyd Morgans has certainly opened all of our eyes in MtL over the years to all of the money that just ooozzzzes out of their back pockets!
$6 milllion or even $60 milion is nothing to these people!
How 'bout them stepping up to the plate and give something back?
It's time for the parents to pay fees to play sports. Freebie Franklin is too lazy to solicit funds, he would have to unzip his own fat wallet first. He is too cheap to step-up.
why don't we close MtL magazine and have it all go online. then lease out the space they use. With that money now diverted, we could turf the fields and establish a maintenance fund. Duh. And people like Franklin and Morgans can get a free lesson in e-c--o-n-o-m-i-c-s-.
Maybe a weight loss event for the YSA men - could we find contributors and use community contributions to donate $0.01 per pound lost at the event? If the YSA men can lose 600,000,000 lbs then they can get the $6,000,000.
3:53 I don't how much the Mr. Franklin or the sports people contribute, nor do I care.
What is infuriating is their insistence that everyone in thecommunity must fulfill their insatiable demand for more and more sports spending.
C'mon guys, you want all this so bad... Buy the McNeilly property thru a private/public venture and build whatever your little hearts desire.
I am angrier at the commissioners and school board directors who jump for every one of their whims. They all seem to be million dollar ideas that end up being nooses around our necks.
I just don't understand why Franklin has never gone to the school board and made a 10 or 20 year proposal for turfing Mellon. Do you think they are on to him?
Elaine
4:21, the municipality is prohibited from selling the McNeilly property to anyone.
The only way it can be used for other than recreational purposes is for the municipality to purchase the same amount of additional land and use that new land for recreational purposes.
Even so, the municipality cannot ever sell the McNeilly property.
But, are they forbidden from leasing it to a recreation group or forming a public/private partnership?
That is the question.
One you can bet your bottom dollar the YSA/SAB doesn't want considered.
Franklin is the fundraising person for the Mt. Lebanon Football Association. He raises the incredible amount of $6,000 per year for website ads by putting the arm on kids fathers, plus brings in about $18,000 per year from spaghetti dinner fundraisers. Those are his fundraising credentials.
He has yet to own up to his YSA shortchanging the school district for some $80,000 in non payments and underpayments for field maintenance during the period 1997 - 2011 per the JMA agreements, expired and not renewed.
The very well kept Pop Murray Field in Dormont Park has 10-15 signs on their outfield fence. Low's has one and so does Cain's Saloon.
This community needs to quit looking for ways to spend money and take a look at the operations and maintenanceof things that are already in place.
Like how can Dormont, Scott, Cecil manage to attract fieldsign advertisers and keep natural grass fields in playable condition, and it's so hard for our Depts. Maybe we need to look at staff and managers a little closer.
Perhaps Instead of 'retreats' we should be attacking issues head-on!
I was asked to review this thread because there seemed to be a misunderstanding. The YSA and SAB did offer to try to place the ads on the athletic field fences. However when the Commission discussed the issue some Commissioners believed, for various reasons, that municipal staff should take the lead. Neither Mr. Franklin nor any of his colleagues were granted the authority or given the responsibility to market such signs.
As always I appreciate everyone's interest and involvement but would ask that we refrain from personal attacks. This is especially true for private residents like Mr. Franklin. Like Ms. Gillen, Mr. Franklin his a resident using his personal time to advocate for what he believes is best for this community. Both deserve civil treatment at a minimum.
Thank you.
Dave Brumfield
Fair enough Commissioner and certainly personal attacks should be avoided. Hope you convey that message to a collegue or two.
Personal attacks aside the question still remains, who's bright idea or initiative created the change in the sign ordinance. How was the money earmarked only for fields? Why not deposited to the general fund?
Then, how is it surrounding communities seem to rather successful finding sign sponsors. We only found one!
How any ideas related to field sports - missing JMA payments, purchased useless properties, pitiful sign revenues have to occur before you commissioners wake up and consider that something is flawed or someone doesn't have a clue?
Commissioner Brumfield, "what the Kluck?"
Civility is only now an issue for you?
Yeah Dave, and you expect us to respect a deadbeat, heavy handed bully like Franklin ? And you honestly believe his advocacy is best for the entire community and not only a very personal and limited private interest of his and his gang, the rest of the community be damned ?
You are in need of a serious reality checkup ! People receive the respect they earn and deserve. Many people speak up in respect for and defense of Mrs. Gillen. Interestingly, you are the only one who ever speaks up for Franklin.
1:03 sorry, I do not agree with Mr. Franklin and quite often suspect his methods and agendas, but I have no doubt that he truly believes in his cause or agenda.
I think his wants foolhearty and irresponsible spending in light of the current economy, the HS black hole and the flawed reassessment inequities offensive, but that doesn't justify name calling. Brumfield's right though a day late and a dollar short.
Mr. Brumfield,
1) What are the fund-raising credentials of municipal Staff?
2) Why are you ignoring the ugly asphalt patches on streets in your ward to build athletic facilities?
3) How do you justify spending municipal dollars for a school district that squandered $28,800,000 on the high school project in excess building costs, plus in excess of $5,000,000 in extra bond interest.
Seriously, Dave, you are a Duke University Law School Graduate and you want to spend more money on a school district that squandered an extra $33,800,000 on a pet project. This makes no sense.
Dave Brumfield you need to have a serious talk with your fund raising buddies on the Turf -Committee/Youth-Sports Cabal. From where I sit Mr. Brumfield, Mr. Franklin and some other personalities influencing municipal issues appear to lack basic common sense and definitely are disrespecting those who elected you to public office and who pay the salaries and pensions of municipal staff who are forced to make nonsense decisions because the Commission is asked to do so.
With Well-Earned Disrespect for the Nonsense of Those Who Hold Public Office and their "Friends,"
John Ewing
PROBLEM IS- MORGANS CAN DISH IT OUT, RIP THE WHOLE WORLD A NEW ONE 24/7/365, BUT SHE CAN'T TAKE MINOR SCRUTINY!
Dave Brumfield, stick around. I may need you when the "troll" pipes up again. You're not going to believe who it is...
Elaine
Mr. Brumfield,
Make that $34,000,000 squandered by the school district. I forgot to add in the extra $200,000 the Board awarded Merrill Lynch. When ML got into financial trouble they came back to the Board and increased their previously negotiated municipal-bond underwriting fee on the first bond issue by $200,000. The Board neglected to add that to any change orders.
John Ewing
Mr. Ewing,
That $34,000,000 cost overage is about what Upper St. Clair paid for their whole High School.
Does everyone remember when Dave Franklin told all of us on Blog Lebo that he doesn't believe that anyone has a right to own a house? Remember when Franklin said that home ownership is, in his opinion, a privilege that comes with the responsibility of paying taxes?Now we are seeing Mr. Franklin's true colors - he wants to use the taxing authority to literally take property rights away from residents, some of whom are the most helpless in our community for his turf. Not police protection, new fire trucks, road or sidewalk repair, drug intradiction programs - nothing "critical" - just turf. Part of the problem is that guys like Franklin don't believe that government is funded from what we give them, rather it is funded by taking what it wants. Notice that I said, "...what it wants." and not , ... what it needs."
Did the school district make a deal with a new company to maintain it's fields that actually cost it less money than they spent under the YSA?
Tell me if I'm wrong, but I've never seen Mellon Field look better and it improved in a very short time.
That isn't the point - it really doesn't matter how well the field is groomed if the road or the sidewalk that takes you there isn't safe!
Our infrastructure is crumbling! Our roads are beginning to feel like Berma and not an advanced industrial country.
Mt Lebanon needs to get their priorities in order. Turf is the last thing that we need right now!
2:11 sorry to disagree - that is the point.
Finding efficient, cost saving ways to provide the services and amenities we've come to enjoy. If we save $30,000 over what we used to spend on district fields - and they look better - that frees up more to repair more sidewalks or pave a few more yards if streets.
Finding ways to do things better, cheaper is indeed the point.
... and therefore 4:10 supports staff reductions and the elimination of wasteful, misguided and misaligned programs in the school district, like athletics and the installation of turf by the municipallity.
5:20 no one said eliminate athletics. If you spend $60,000 on field maintenance and find a way to maintain the fields in better condition for $30,000 that allows you to keep athletics, not cut them.
If you keep raising the price of maintaining fields year after year, eventually it consumes more and more of your budget and that leads to staff, program and athletic cuts.
Unless Of course you have a money tree or goose that lays golden eggs so you never run out of money.
Not quite, you've just wasted $30,000 that should have never been spent in the first place!
What no sports?
No football, baseball, soccer, cheerleading, marching band, fiel hockey, etc.
Sorry, sports are worthy of some spending.IMO
..., right after the streets get paved, the sidewalks fixed, the traffic slows, the crime rate drops, the sanitary sewers get repaired AND THE DEADBEAT ATHLETIC SUPPORTERS PAY BACK ALL OF THE MONEY THAT THEY PROMISED!
NOBODY BELIEVES THE YOUNG DEADBEAT ATHLETIC SUPPORTERS WILL GIVE THIS COMMUNITY ANYTHING BUT A BIG FAT ZERO.
LOOK AT THE SIGN COLLECTIONS, WE DIDN'T EVEN GET A SMLEY COOKIE FROM EAT N' PARK. BUT WE DID GET $500 FROM A SENIOR CENTER AND FRANKLINS AND FRIENDS AREN'T EVEN EMBARRASSED. SOME PEOPLE HAVE NO SHAME THEY ARE JUST LOOKING OUT FOR THEIR OWN SELFISH INTERESTS.
UNFORTUNATELY, NONE OF OUR COMMISSIONERS DO NOT HAVE THE BRAINS TO PROPERLY MANAGE MOUNT LEBANON.
There is an old saying, "Experience is the best teacher." Unfortunately, learning by experience is usually the most expensive teacher, and Mt Lebanon is about to learn a very hard lesson.
The frightening scenario unfolding before us is the collapse of a great community because of wasteful, misaligned and misguided decisions by our elected officials in both the municipality and the school district.
I hope that anyone interested enough to read these posts will reach out to your commissioner and ask him or her to end this foolishness before it is too late for all of us.
Somebody explain it to me... why do we need a Taj Mahal athletic wing and million dollar Turfed fields, when we have to set up a begging initiative (PK fund raising drive), talk about cutting ed programs, laying off teachers (but give administrators bonuses), chatuse Harrisburg for not sending bigger and bigger loads of money and instituting more and larger student fees?
The NEW, unopened and already issue-laden sports wing played no role in the athletic achievements listed below.
From the school district web site:
Boys Lacrosse 2013 WPIAL Champions
Girls Volleyball 2012 WPIAL Champions
Girls Cross Country 2012 WPIAL Champions
Girls Tennis Singles 2012 WPIAL Champion
Girls Basketball 2012 WPIAL Champions
Simple, the community is corrupt.
If we have the Commission to pay for district toys why did the board spend $842,000 to hire a fundraiser? Why didn't the Commission pay for PK with their extra funds?
I'm reminded of Elaine's poll about giving the school extra money. One of the answers was. "I gave at the Tax Office." With a 12.5% funds balance we all gave at the tax office but we didn't know it was going to be spent on turf.
Also, didn't Kristin participate in the library's garden tour a couple of years ago? Could a deer kill be her own personal agenda to protect her own garden? Do you think she would trade a recreation vote for a deer kill vote?
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